Conveyer.



M. U. BERNHEIM.

couvsvgn. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 7.1918.

1 ,3GO,332, Patented Apr. 15,1919.

I 29 z A Jha'en f0 rrnn s'rn'rns PATENT FFICE.

MO RBIS U. BERNHEIM, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE ALVEY-FE-RGUSON COMPANY, OF OAKLEY, CINCINNATI, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

CONVEYER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

Application filed October 7, 1918. Serial No. 257,265.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MORRIS U. BERNI-IEIM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new It comprehends, essentially, a support for the .matter conveyed, pivotally suspended from a carrier which travels upon an ele vated track; one or more sending stations arranged above the plane of travel of the support and pivotally mounted to be capable of dumping its, or their, contents into or onto the support, each sending station being normally held in mail-holding position by a spring-pressed latch, and said support having projecting elements which respectively free the latch from the station when the support is in position to receive the mail and force the station back into position, to be re-engaged by the latch as the support passes from beneath the station a receiving station arranged below the plane of travel of the support; and cooperating devices on the support and at, the receiving station for turning the support pivotally and'causing it thereby to discharge its contents automatically at the receiving station. The invention also comprehends certain details of construction by which the purposes in view are most effectively and economically secured.

In short, the invention consists in certain peculiarities in the construction of parts, and in novel combinations and correlations of elements substantially as hereinafter described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown what I now consider to be the best 7 the spirit of the invention or the scope of in the position in which it has just freed a sending station and is receiving mail therefrom, another support being in a position in which it has just restored a sending station to 1ts initial, mail-holding, position, and the remaining support bein illustrated as dumping its contents at t e receiving statlon.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig. 1, viewed in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is adetail perspective of the front end of the sending station, showing the lateral projections and a part of the latch to engage the same.

10 and 11 designate rails, of an elevated track which may be of any suitable length and may exten in any suitable direction or directions. Wheeled carriers 12 travel upon these rails. There may be any suitable number of these carriers. Each comprises a depending member 13 which is'engaged by an endless traveling cable 14: by

which the several carriers are propelled along the rails. This cable may be driven in any suitable manner, not necessary herein particularly to set forth.

Each member 13 is provided with an arm 15 which preferably extends first laterally and then vertically therefrom and has a bearing 15 at its lower end. A support 16 has a pivot pin 1.7 extending laterally from one of its sides and this pivot pin extends into the bearing 15*. This hearing may iniude balls or the like for friction-reducing purposes, if desired. It will thus be seen that each support travels from place to lace with its carrier 19. and may be tilted to ump, its contents. Each support prel'ferablyi tray or basket form, open at the top and front and closed on the bottom, sides and rear.

18 designates a sending stat-ion, which preferably is in the form of a tray or basket having one of its ends open. This station is provided with a lateral projection 19 at its open end and a pivot 20 at its other end. It is normally engaged at its end opposite the pivot 20, by a latch 21 which serves to hold it in horizontal, mail retaining, position. The latch 21 is pivoted at 22 and is provided with a spring 23 by which it is yieldably held in engagement with the lateral projection 19 of the sending station, said projection also limiting the I mail upon each sending station will be discharged when the latter is tilted; In order that this discharge may be controlled by the supports, to take place automatically when a support;- is-in position to receive the matter thus discharged, each support is provided with an upwardly projecting arm 25 which is arranged at the front end thereof in position to engage the end 24 of the latch, thereby forcing the latch'out of engagement with the sending station as the support travels beneath the latter. To automatically restore the sending station to its initial position, the rear end of the support has an upwardly projecting means which engages, the under surface of the sending station and gradually forces the latter upward as thesupport passes away from the same. This means preferably. comprises an upwardly and rearwardly inclined rigid arm 26 havi'nga roller 27 at its free end to engage the sending station.

28 designates a receiving'station which is arranged below and in suitable proximity to the plane of travel of the supports 16. This station preferably is of basket form, open at the top to receive the matter which is automatically dumped thereinto by the several supports as they successively reach the same. To efi'ect 'thisautomaticallypand without shock, each support is provided w th a spring 29 and a stop 29, the said stop bemg arranged to engage the arm 15 when the support is in horizontal position, and the spring tending to keep the support normally in'such position, and the support is also provided with a wheel 30 to engage and traverse a track having an upwardly inclined section 31, an approximately horizontal section 32, and a-downwardly inclined section 33, the said track by its shape servmg to retard the motion of the support and cause the latter to tilt gradually to a substantially vertical position with relation to the arm 15, whose movement with the carrier 12 is not interfered with, and to maintain its said vertical position for a short while and then gradually to return to its normal horizontal position. It will be noted that as the support is pivoted and held yieldingly in a normal position, by the spring 29, for example, it will not only be held to follow the variations in the track, but will also yield 1f need be when its roller equipped rigld arm 26 engages the sending station,

, thereby effecting the return of the sending station to its initial position without shock.

The rails 10 and 11 are preferably supported by any suitable number of posts 34:

having arms 35 which extend above the rails and have depending portions 35 and 35" to which the rails are secured. Each post which is adjacent to a sending station is .further provided with a member 3.6 which depends from the arm 35 and has its lower end provided with forward and rearward extensions 36 and 36.- The free end of the extension 36 in such case has a bearing 37 for one end of the pivot 20 of the sendingstation, and the free end of the extension 36 carries the latch 21. This constitutes an economical and durable supporting means for the parts named.

Having thus described the invention what I believe to be new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is 1. A conveyer, comprising a traveling pivotally suspended support for the matter being conveyed, a tiltable sending station, means controlled by the support for permitting the sending station to dump its contents upon the support and for restoring the sending station to its initial position, respectively, and means for automatically tilting the support to discharge its contents, including an element carried by the support and an element to engage the same and retard the movement of the sup port with relation to the movement of the carrier.

2. A conveying mechanism comprising a tiltable sending station having means for normally holding it in holdingposition, a track spaced from the sending station and provided with inclined ends and an elevated intermediate section, and a traveling pivotally suspended support for the matter being conveyed, provided with means for automatically detaching the holding means from the sending station and reengaging the sending station with the holding means respectively, and also provided with means for traversing the track, said track and the latter means cooperating to cause the support to tilt and dump its contents, and 00- operating elements connected with the support for holding the same normally in holding position, one of said elements being yieldable.

- 3. A conveyer comprising a traveling pivotally suspended support for the matter being conveyed, a sending station pivoted at one end above the planeof travel of the support, a spring-pressed latch for holding the. sending station normally in holding position, means at the front end of the support for disengaging the latch from the support, and a rigid upwardly-extending projection from the opposite end of the support, having at its free end an element to engage the bottom of the sending station and traverse the same and thereby restore the sending station to its initial position.

4. A conveyer comprising a traveling pivotally suspended support for the matter being conveyed, a tiltable sending station, means for holding the sending station normally in holding position, means movable with the support for disengaging the holding means from the sending station, means at the rear'and above the support, to engage,

the sending station and restore it to its hold ing position, and a spring on the support for holding the roller against the sending station and overcoming shock due to impact of the roller with the sending station.

6. A conveyer comprising a traveling carrier having a depending arm, a support pivotally connected to said arm, a tiltable sending station, means for holding the sending station normally in substantially horizontal position, means movable with the support for disengaging the holding means from the sending station, means controlled by the support for pressing the sending station back to its former position, a track, an element on the support cooperating with the track to tilt the support, a spring tending to hold the support in holding position and a stop connected to the support and engaging the arms when the support is inholding position.

7. A conveyer comprising an elevated track, a wheeled carrier, means for imparting movement to the carrier along the track, a support pivotally suspended from the carrier, a sending station pivotally mounted above the support, a latch for holding the sending station in holding position, and means traveling with the support for disengaging the latch from the sending station and pressing the sending station back into position to be rengaged by the latch, respectively.

8. A conveyer, comprising a fixed supporting means including a depending member having forward and rearward extensions, a

latch pivoted to one of the extensions, a sending station pivoted at one end to the other extension and having its opposite end arranged to be engaged by the latch, a traveling container, and means traveling with the container for disengaging the latch from the sending station and pressing the sending station back .into position to be reengaged by the latch, respectively.

9. A conveyer, comprising an elevated track, a supporting means for said track,

having a depending member provided with forward and rearward. extensions, a latch pivoted to one of the extensions, a sending station pivoted at one end to the other extension and having its opposite end arranged to be engaged by the latch, a wheeled carrier, means for imparting traveling movement to the carrier along the track, a container pivotally suspended from the carrier, and means traveling with the container for disengaging the latch from the sending station and pressing the sending station back into position to be rengaged by the latch, respectively.

10. A; conveyer comprising a track, a carrier movable the'reover, a support for the matter being conveyed, pivotally suspended from the carrier, a wheel depending from the support, a track in the path of said wheel, arranged to tilt the support with relation to the carrier to discharge the contents of the support at a predetermined place, and a spring connected to the support and placed under tension by the tilting of the support. 7

11. In the hereindescribed conveying mechanism, a traveling pivotally mounted support for the matter being conveyed, said support being provided with projections at opposite ends and with an element to tra- 

